Why Was The Caliphate Abolished In 1924?

[Boojatta]

Poll question: Why Was The Caliphate Abolished In 1924?

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[Recursion]

1. NOTA: the Sykes-Picot treaty

They let it stay for a few more years as a sop to Faisal and Lawrence; once Faisal was bought off and Lawrence was T E Shaw, it was all fair game.

[mcscajun]

2. Ataturk was a visionary and reformer.

He created the Republic of Turkey with representative government, sweeping social and cultural reforms, including the abolition of Sharia law, and the education of women.

[existentialist]

3. also

the Turks had been paying the price to Arab resistance (insurgents) for many years and they were sick of it.

[Boojatta]

4. Kick for more replies. e.o.m.

[Sir Jeffrey]

5. Pretty sure it was part of Ataturk's reforms...

He wanted to bring Turkey into the 20th century...which meant getting Turkey secular.

He basically eliminated the office and gave the caliph's power to the legislature.

Also important to note that the Turkish military sees itself as the protector of the republic. In other words, when Islamic political parties get too powerful, they intervene. That has a lot to do with why the caliphate never returned.

A few books I read in college talked about re-instituting the caliphate as a symbolic leader (like the pope) but there are so many problems that arise. Who would be the first new caliph? Where would he sit? What would he do? and so forth.

Also, other countries probably do not want to piss off Turkey, and re-instituting the caliphate outside of Turkey might do that. Therefore, since Turkey doesn't want the caliph in its borders, and they probably wouldn't accept a caliph beyond its borders, that explains why it is a non-starter.

[Odin2005]

6. Ataturk.

He wanted to turn Turkey into western country, that ment breaking the links to Islamic civilization. The Brits later offered the empty office to the King of Hijaz (the region around Mecca) but he was a Wahabbi, the office was meaningless to him, and so rejected the offer.

[deaniac21]

7. To help with a move to digital instrumentation.

[MisterP]

8. becuase Kemal was King now

no fezzes, Greeks, or Arabic script for you!

[Boojatta]

9. There are plenty of conspiracy theories about other topics.

Why am I the only participant in this thread who has been inventing conspiracy theories on this topic?

Also, why has nobody voted for this option: "Using a time machine, Saddam Hussein did it to weaken the fighting spirit of Iran in the Iran-Iraq war"?